'The Madness' on Netflix is a wild ride of murder and conspiracies that takes viewers on a wild, thrilling ride.
The ending is a soft landing, but the preceding episodes are a rollercoaster.
The Madness on Netflix is a conspiracy theory-riddled thriller that’s a whodunnit at the same time.
After weeks of flicking past it, mostly because of the unappealing banshee-like artwork on the app, the show proved to be very entertaining.
Muncie Daniels, played by Coleman Domingo, is a CNN part-timer who’s just about to get his own show on the news network.
His life was righting itself after a separation from the love of his life and son, and professionally, things looked as if they were going great guns.
Until it didn’t, of course. Because when he took a time-out break in the woods of a place called Poconos, in an isolated cabin, all hell broke loose. A power outage saw him go to his neighbour for some gas, but instead he found him chopped to pieces in an outhouse sauna.
A body, chopped into pieces
Two masked people see him, and he sees them. They give chase, and Muncie gallops through the forest trying to escape. He manages to kill one of the assailants with a pen-stab in the neck, and after a long walk to civilisation, Muncie’s back in town.
He tells the cops. But when they arrive at the cabin, nothing seems wrong.
The body is gone; everything is in order. All that’s left behind is a watch strap that the reporter picks up. Oh, and the tyres of his car are slashed. But that’s it, and the police hannah hannah to little effect while Muncie tries to convince them of the crime.
And so, the story rolls out, layer after conspiratorial layer. There’s a far-right fundamentalist aspect, of which the murdered man was apparently a key member with a number code.
There’s the ex-wife of the victim, and a whole lot of people who may or may not have wanted him dead. Muncie’s a black man, and while the racial tension between him and the far right is not properly explored as a layer to the narrative, it’s a lingering viewer thought that adds to the suspense.
Far right fringe politics
Enter FBI agent Franco Quinones, played by John Ortiz. He reveals that the far-right group is called The Forge. Their tentacles may or may not reach pretty deep institutionally.
We see the good guys, the bad guys, or who we think they are.
As the series rolls on, the intrigue deepens. It’s a thriller that’s a cut above the rest. So, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride that the showrunners have put together.
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The Madness gains momentum and never loses it. It builds. The tension is there throughout.
Because the good guys, the bad guys and everything in between are so blurred, Muncie decides to investigate on his own.
He ends up placing his family in danger. Along the way, it heads to a soft landing for him at the end. Because the crisis also reignites the love between him and his ex.
So, back to the plot, because Muncie must deal with the safety of his family while also undoing the tangled yarn of being framed for murder.
Along with agent Quinones, he walks a path of self-realisation as much as detection.
The lines between good and bad guys blurred
The Madness is an excellent thriller.
The performances are solid and believable, and nothing in the series is overstated.
Instead, it’s a puzzle that the audience is invited to put together with the characters. There’s no time to contemplate your navel or gaps to fast forward through, because every minute of it is delicious, especially because of the soft landing.
Too many shows never play out right, and we never know what happened after the action.
The Madness delivers to great satisfaction. Highly recommended.
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